Folklore and Folklife in the United Arab Emirates
... To best of our knowledge, all existed references "online and hardcopy printed sources" related to the UAE flora were reviewed to collect the botanical names of all the UAE indigenous and naturalized plants, which were around 800 plant species. The references included Batanouny [14], Western [15], Tanira et al., [16], Wasfi [17], Karim [18], Emirates Natural History Group [19], Böer and Chaudhary [20], Jongbloed et al., [21], Brown and Sakkir [22], Aspinall [23], Zayed Complex for Herbal Research and Traditional Medicine (ZCHRTM) [24], Handa et al., [25], Karim and Dakheel [26], Mousa and Fawzi [27], Sakkir et al., [28], Fawzi and Ksiksi [29], Hurriez [30], Feulner [31], El-Keblawy et al., [32] and the Environmental Agency of Abu Dhabi [33,34]. ...
Essential Oils (EOs) are expensive hydrocarbons produced exclusively by specific species in the plant kingdom. Their applications have deep roots in traditional herbal medicine, which lacks scientific evidence. Nowadays, more than ever, there is a growing global interest in research-based discoveries that maintain and promote health conditions. Consequently, EOs became a much attractive topic for both research and industry, with revenues reaching billions of dollars annually. In this work, we provide key guidance to all essential oil-bearing plants growing in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The comprehensive data were collected following an extensive, up-to-date literature review. The results identified 137 plant species, including indigenous and naturalized ones, in the UAE, citing over 180 published research articles. The general overview included plant botanical names, synonyms, common names (Arabic and English), families and taxonomic authority. The study acts as a baseline and accelerator for research, industry and discoveries in multiple disciplines relying on essential oil-bearing plants.
... (A'zami, 2005). Although the "Badjir" is deeply rooted in history starting with ancient Egypt, Many locations and civilizations have also known the "Badjir"; The Middle East, (Hurriez, Sayyid, 2013), some places in: Asia like Afghanistan and Pakistan, Africa, Europe, and the United States. 6 ...
... While contributing factors are integrated together and it is difficult to separate them, the Western and distinctively Emirati contexts are distinguishable. An Emirati model demonstrates that there are strong influences from family that keep shaping their leadership even after they are working in such positions (Hurriez 2011;Soffan 1980 consisting of the support they receive, opportunities they receive, and achievements. There are also similarities this model has to Western models that women share across cultures. ...
This chapter proposes a nationally distinctive higher education leadership identity model for young Emirati women that is appropriate to the country’s values, beliefs and culture, and takes into account the many modernisation changes and challenges they face without losing national and cultural identity. These include rapid changes due to nation--building and increasingly high levels of multiculturalism and diversity as well as the very high percentage of women now attending universities and obtaining graduate degrees at a significantly higher rate than men. In the UAE, this increase is due mainly to economic development and political changes in the country that support the empowerment of women resulting in them obtaining some of the highest leadership positions in business, education and other professions. Results of extant studies are combined with those of a qualitative multi--methods study conducted by the first author to identify influencing factors from which a leadership identity development model is constructed, focussed on family, cultural and social influences, role models, collegial relationships, workplace and contextual Islamic values, and involvement in leadership activities. The chapter concludes with recommendations for education in leadership that can strengthen and support young Emirati women’s leadership identity construction.
... Use of this procedure is indicated for fractures or joint manipulation of limbs and lower jaw as well as spine, pelvis and shoulder, bed rest is recommended for the latter. Prescriptions noted include a mixture of egg yolk and certain local herbs molded into a plaster and applied to fractured, dislocated or displaced bones (Hurreiz, 2002). As demonstrated by Ghazanfar (2011), "once a bone fracture is corrected, a plaster is applied made from the resin of Acacia spp., seeds of tamarind or lentils mixed with egg. ...
Applied therapy is a commonly utilized method of treatment for preventive and therapeutic measures. Avicenna, a significant physician of the Islamic golden age, described 36 methods to restore balance of patients’ elements, humors and faculties. We propose a categorization of these methods within a single theory and framework, as this has previously been lacking. To be considered under the rubric of TAIM applied therapies, the procedures must have: 1) proof of use in the Arab and Muslim world; 2) considered an essential component of Avicenna’s compendium of regimental therapy; and 3) historical lineage according to regional, cultural or Islamic healing practices. We developed a taxonomy of applied therapies by denoting each as a primary or supportive method and providing a definition for each category of methods. We define applied therapy as techniques or procedures involving physical and manual contact with the individual that are aimed at restoring health and preventing illness. Primary methods describe therapies which when used individually can impact the vital force of the body in order to preserve or restore health, while supportive methods describe therapies used in conjunction with primary methods intended to augment or create a synergistic and enhanced effect, exceeding that of primary methods alone. Our work provides a fundamental step in continuing the evolution of the TAIM conceptual model and advancing our understanding of the diverse practices under the rubric of applied therapy. Researchers can use this comprehensive TAIM taxonomy for investigating the respective elements, and systematically exploring the theoretical and therapeutic applications.
... The position of the family and the family tribe form the basis for social stratification among Emiratis. A high social status is, therefore, acquired by birth rather than through individual achievement (Hurreiz, 2002). Emiratis belong to four main classes: the ruling sheikh families, who have immense wealth and political and social power; the business class families, who own groups of companies in the main industries; middle class families, including state-educated professionals with moderate income; and lower-income families including former oasis farmers or seamen who either continue to carry on their family's traditional occupation or seek lower level employment with government institutions, the police or army. ...
... From the late 1950s, governments all around the region started to encourage the publication of books and journals devoted to popular traditions, as well as the creation of archives and centres for folk culture studies (Al-Najjar 1991; Baram 1991, 30-40;Early 1995;Hurriez 2013;Massad 2001, 250). In Tunisia, a division of Music and Popular Arts was created inside the new Ministry of Culture in 1961. 1 This was followed by the creation in 1963 of a Troupe Nationale des Arts Populaires which had as its mission to preserve and to present regional traditional dancing abroad and locally. ...
After the Protectorate ended in Tunisia, ethnography, a discipline disowned by local academics for being too primitive to analyse the fast-changing nature of the country, was recuperated in the mid-1960s by the Centre d’Arts et Traditions Populaires (CATP), the governmental body in charge of managing vernacular culture. Within the Centre, ethnography was used by researchers to serve the developmentarist paradigms supported by the Bourguiba government at the time. But this was not all. In a period which bore the stigma of colonialism and extreme modernisation, ethnography also assumed an important role of self-objectification and introspection. Its ambiguous status, as an emancipating tool developed in the colonising West, led to important interrogations within the CATP itself that echoed larger debates regarding the status of the social sciences in the postcolonial Arab World.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has paid a great deal of attention to families since the beginning of the century. Three factors may explain the rationale behind public policies. First, the demographic transition has transformed the “nationals” into minorities in their own country. To stabilize the local population, families have been thought of a strong leverage to maintain a high birth rate. Second, families are, with the tribal heritage, the main pillar of the “tradition”. The social contract between the ruling families and their citizens is the cornerstone of social and political stability. Third, with the promotion of women at all stages of the Emirati society, their role has been discussed.
What we consider to be theatre in a Western context didn't develop in the Arab world until the nineteen hundreds. However, to write the region off as having no tradition of theatre is ignorant, as traditional dramatic arts such as puppetry, and Ta'ziyah, have been around for centuries. While it is true that these particular dramatic arts weren't part of the Emirati culture, storytelling certainly was. Theatre as we know it, reached the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the 1970s with the arrival of the expatriate workforce. It is fair to say that while theatre in the UAE and indeed the region as a whole, is gaining momentum, it still has a long way to go when it comes to attracting local audiences. Issues of censorship, religious interpretation of what is and isn't appropriate, and lack of suitable venues, have hindered the growth of theatre in the past. And while these issues are being addressed and theatre is now a common activity in the UAE, unfortunately it is the expatriate population behind most theatrical endeavours. After researching the history of theatre in the Arab world, an investigation as to the state of theatre in the UAE was conducted. A comparison was made with Bahrain in order to predict the future of theatre in the UAE. There are many similarities between the development of theatre in Bahrain and the UAE and this leads me to believe that the local theatre scene will in fact continue along the same trajectory as theatre in Bahrain. Indeed, it is quite conceivable that theatre in the UAE has the potential to outgrow that of neighbouring countries due to the generosity of the government. Theatre is, in its nature, a probing art form; therefore, the constraints of what is culturally and politically appropriate can sanitise the theatrical experience as opposed to making it challenging. Be that as it may, with all the initiatives that the government has started, I believe that the theatre scene in the UAE will continue to grow.
Folklore plays a crucial role in the preservation of the local heritage, and it can provide valuable information regarding cultural and religious norms, language, and environment of that people. The folktale is one of the many forms of folklore and it represents the product of the individual traditional heritage that originates from a population’s collective cultural imagination and background. In the Arabian Gulf societies, the oral tradition of storytelling has been prominent for a very long time and it has somehow been preserved until fairly recent times. The folktale belongs to the Emirati intangible cultural heritage, and it constitutes a deeply rooted element related to Bedouin tribal clans and to the desertic and maritime environments which characterised the territory. The United Arab Emirates is very attentive to the conservation of their heritage, both at national and international levels. This study provides a socio-cultural and linguistic analysis of the Emirati folktale, based on a sample of three stories from Al-Ain, written in Emirati Arabic, which share a common feature: the wickedness of wives.
The essay examines the tensions inherent in teaching dystopian texts (in this case, Yevgeny Zamyatin’s We and George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four) while considering the significance of tradition and culture in the Arab world. English literature teachers in the Gulf Cooperation Council often feel pressured to follow curricula set by the Ministry of Education, avoiding the potential for controversy in favor of canonical stability. Others, however, seek to provoke, or de- and/or re-center certain ideas, themes, plots or meanings to address the cultural politics and meet the learner’s needs in the non-Anglophone setting. English literature can be received in ways that “distort” or “destabilize” Anglocentric ideas, a thorny and pressing endeavor that necessitates striding worlds and bridging cultural divides for both students and teachers.
The young female university students of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) today are the first generation of women for whom higher education has become not only a possibility but almost an expectation. Young Emirati women today make up around 77% of students in higher education institutions in the country. However, the societal expectations placed upon these women in terms of early marriage, child-bearing, and child-rearing are similar to those placed upon their mothers and grandmothers in a time where women were not expected to go to university. A large proportion of female university students in the UAE are mothers of young children or become mothers whilst at university. This creates a challenging situation for young student mothers, where two weeks’ maternity leave is typical across institutions. The context of this study is in one such institution in the UAE. The authors employed a qualitative approach to gather interview data from 13 new mothers. The ways in which these new mothers have developed coping strategies at home to deal with the pressures of returning to their studies so rapidly whilst simultaneously running their homes are described. The authors found strong evidence of female family members’ support, a deep sense of intrinsic personal motivation in the students, and much less dependency on domestic help for childcare than may be presumed.
Educational Administration and Leadership Identity Formation explores approaches and issues that arise in leadership identity formation in a variety of educational contexts. Bringing together a range of national and international contributions, this volume provides a global perspective on this multi-dimensional topic.
This book examines the theoretical foundations relevant to identity and identity formation, and their implications for researching and teaching in educational administration and leadership. It includes a range of sociological, psychological, political, cultural, and socio--linguistic approaches to examining leadership identity formation. It also addresses models, practices and experiences that vary according to identity politics, cultural difference, and historical and contemporary privilege in leadership identity formation.
Working from theoretical and practice-base perspectives, this book will be of great interest for researchers, practitioners, policy-makers and academics, as well as students in teacher education programs and graduate courses in educational administration and leadership, organisational studies, and educational ethics for broad international use.
Birleşik Arap Emirlikleri (BAE), Arap Körfezi’nde ve Orta Doğu’da sanat, kültür ve miras çalışmalarıyla anılan ülkelerin başında gelmekte ve Arap Dünyasının sanat ve kültür ağının merkezi olmayı hedeflemektedir. Müzecilik çalışmalarına 1969’da başlayan ülkenin bu alanda amacı, ulusal kültürün geliştirilerek sürdürülebilirliğini sağlamak ve farklı yaş ve ilgi grubundan kültür severin ilgisini çekecek kültür kurumuyla etkileşimli sergi ve sunum yaklaşımlarını hayata geçirmektir. Uzun vadede petrol gelirlerine bağımlılığını azaltmak için turizmin önemini kavrayan ve turizm yatırımlarını artıran ülkede 50 yıl içinde Al Ain ve Dubai Emirlikleri’nde ulusal müzeler açılmış; arkeolojik kazılar başlatılmış, arkeoloji müzeleri inşa edilmiş; yaşayan müzeler ve miras köyleri oluşturulmuş, çocuk ve kadın kültürü, nümizmatik, İslam Sanatı, çağdaş sanat ve sinema tarihi gibi konulara odaklanan onlarca müze ziyaretçileriyle buluşmuştur. BAE müzecilik sektöründeki atılımlarına 2017 sonlarında açılan Abu Dhabi Louvre Müzesi ve yakında açılacak olan Guggenheim Müzeleri ile devam etmeyi planlamaktadır. Bu çalışmada, emirliklerdeki kültürel miras çalışmaları müze çeşitliliği bağlamında değerlendirilmektedir.
What we consider to be theatre in a Western context didn’t develop in the Arab world until the nineteen hundreds. However, to write the region off as having no tradition of theatre is ignorant, as traditional dramatic arts such as puppetry, and Ta'ziyah, have been around for centuries. While it is true that these particular dramatic arts weren’t part of the Emirati culture, storytelling certainly was. Theatre as we know it, reached the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the 1970s with the arrival of the expatriate workforce. It is fair to say that while theatre in the UAE and indeed the region as a whole, is gaining momentum, it still has a long way to go when it comes to attracting local audiences. Issues of censorship, religious interpretation of what is and isn’t appropriate, and lack of suitable venues, have hindered the growth of theatre in the past. And while these issues are being addressed and theatre is now a common activity in the UAE, unfortunately it is the expatriate population behind most theatrical endeavours. After researching the history of theatre in the Arab world, an investigation as to the state of theatre in the UAE was conducted. A comparison was made with Bahrain in order to predict the future of theatre in the UAE. There are many similarities between the development of theatre in Bahrain and the UAE and this leads me to believe that the local theatre scene will in fact continue along the same trajectory as theatre in Bahrain. Indeed, it is quite conceivable that theatre in the UAE has the potential to outgrow that of neighbouring countries due to the generosity of the government. Theatre is, in its nature, a probing art form; therefore the constraints of what is culturally and politically appropriate can sanitise the theatrical experience as opposed to making it challenging. Be that as it may, with all the initiatives that the government has started, I believe that the theatre scene in the UAE will continue to grow.
This book investigates how indigenous forms of interaction and participation can assist in reaching a broader conception of civil society and also addresses inadequacies and biases in the application of the civil society concept. It studies the participation of women as a major sector of the population that until recently has remained unaccounted for in mainstream political science. In applying a civil society framework focused on UAE women, the book seeks to incorporate a gendered perspective of marginalized groups essential to the comprehensive understanding of politics and change. Thus, the question: Does UAE women’s activism play a significant role in the development of civil society? If so, what does this mean for the civil society concept in explaining this process?
Chapters 3, 4, and 5 analyze the impact of women’s activism on civil society development through case studies on three different forms of women’s collaboration found in the UAE. This chapter looks at official UAE women’s societies and clubs, and chapter 4 examines Islamic-oriented women’s organizations and halakas. Chapter 5 studies women’s networks. The major difference between the organizations described in this chapter and those covered in chapters 4 and 5 is their relationship to government. The organizations described in this chapter can be termed GONGOs, while those discussed in chapter 4 are not government-created although some are government-supported; furthermore, they are Islamic-oriented. The “networks” covered in chapter 5 are distinctive in that the women who participate in them interact with one or more persons to achieve specific aims and interests. The specific question asked was whether these organizations and networks served to contribute to civil society development in the UAE.
The sociohistorical background information given here helps place the subsequent chapters in their appropriate political, economic, and historical context, since it is important that women’s struggles are analyzed within this wider experience. Following a country profile on the UAE and a historical overview of the state’s formation, governmental structure, and modes of participation, the participation of UAE women is examined through a discussion of laws and norms, while a historical account of women’s roles in family, tribe, and society before and after the oil boom shows the changes and the forces behind their status and marginalization. From this information, the significance of UAE women’s activism can be better contextualized.
During the last decade discourses and practices relating to heritage (turāth) have increasingly gained prominence in the UAE, manifesting themselves not only in the continuing construction and proliferation of national heritage museums, but also through the establishment of heritage villages and cultural festivals. The present article aims at undertaking a comparison of four national museums, identifying in each case the images, which are promoted in the exhibitions to frame a specific national identity. By applying a ‘museum-as-text-approach’ it will become evident that the individual emirates through the museum exhibitions express their own national identities by forging grand narratives which in turn are associated with different origins, the latter forming the discursive basis for mutual differentiation. The comparison will also take into account the heritage villages and popular cultural festivals. In this context the difference between two essential modes of display will be scrutinized, the ‘static’ form of representation and the ‘living museum’, as well as the question as to what extent these different modes of display allow for the expression of individual, regional, or tribal identities within the national discourses. Finally, the various forms of display will be contextualized within a more encompassing trend of heritage production in the UAE.
Keywords:
Heritage, National Museums, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Heritage Villages, Festivals, Qasr al Hosn, Sites of memory, Bedouin revival
One of the most fundamental problems plaguing the state of social science research in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is the lack of methodologies that appropriately respond to the cultural context of the country. Most social science research published from the region has merely transplanted Western quantitative methods and has proved ineffective as very few social problems in UAE have been appropriately responded to by social science research. This paper suggests the use of qualitative methods to make social science research in UAE more relevant and impactful. This researcher contends that qualitative methods present an epistemological framework that allows for a greater recognition of the cultural uniqueness of the country and that addresses the nuances that make UAE difficult to study under quantitative methods.
Purpose
– The purpose of this study is to explore how women managers in the United Arab Emirates account for and construct their career development.
Design/methodology/approach
– A narrative approach is adopted for analyzing in‐depth interviews with 15 women managers in the United Arab Emirates.
Findings
– The study produced a typology distinguishing four types of career development among women managers in the United Arab Emirates: progressive, moderate, facilitated and idealistic. The results suggest that social status and family connections can play a significant role in women's career development.
Originality/value
– The value of this paper is two‐fold. First, it contributes to the previously under‐researched topic of the careers of Arab women managers. Second, it emphasizes the importance of societal context when studying women's careers in the Middle East.
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